All Things Southern Caribbean 2016

[jenny_nichole]

Hi All,

We are sailing on the January 10, 2016 Southern Caribbean on Wonder. I was *wondering* if my fellow southern Caribbean cruisers would like to use this thread to unite & discuss all things about our upcoming January 2016 cruises...

Here are the sailing dates for the upcoming 2016 Southern Caribbean cruises:
1/10, 1/17, 1/24, 1/31

I have found a wealth of information on disneycruiselineblog.

Here's a link to an awesome map that Scott Sanders created for our itinerary:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/cruise-planning/itineraries/itinerary-summary/?itinerary=230

You can also read his daily trip logs from his October 2014 Southern Caribbean cruise:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2014/10/trip-log-day-1-disney-magic-san-juan-embarkation/

Navigators for the 2014 Southern Itinerary can be found here:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...aribbean-halloween-cruise-october-11-17-2014/
note: differences are 2016 is on the Wonder(not Magic), port of St. Lucia is now Martinique, and order of visiting ports is changed...but these navigators are still helpful in planning

So what are you planning for your 2016 Southern Caribbean cruise?
Do you have plans in San Juan pre or post cruise?
What are you planning to do in each of the ports?

Also, former Southern Caribbean cruisers: please share all of your tips! We'd love to learn from your experiences!

I'll post some of my plans below.

I can't wait to hear what ya'll are planning! DCL app says our 1/10/2016 cruise is 309 days away!

Jennifer

 

[jenny_nichole]

Also, here are a few thread links with helpful info:

former Southern Caribbean disboarders share must-do's/don'ts:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/re...cruisers-please-share-must-dos-donts.3347432/

Jedijill's Southern C trip report:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/le...d-magic-southern-caribbean-9-20-9-27.3338251/

Jennifer

 

[jenny_nichole]

We just went on our first Fantasy cruise on 1/10/2015, which included a stop in San Juan. Our family of 5(dh, myself, 10 year old triplets) took a self guided tour of the forts and loved it! Old San Juan is such a beautiful city! We hope to fly in on Friday and stay 2 nights before our upcoming cruise. Based on disboarders tips, we hope to do a biobay tour and do a self-guided rainforest tour.

Here's a few photos of our day in San Juan this past January:

After touring the forts, the kids wanted to head back to the ship, so they ate lunch on the pool deck and then we checked them into Oceaneer's Lab. We walked around OSJ and had to try mofongo for the first time. Based on tripadvisor ratings, we went to Punto de Vista on Calle Fortaleza(the same street where you can get Barrachina's famous pina coladas).

Calle Fortaleza (name of street where you can find Punto de Vista & Barrachina's)

Pork Mofongo - so good! Also, Punto de Vista always has b1get1free Mojitos!
Trip advisor link:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...ista_Restaurant_Bar-San_Juan_Puerto_Rico.html

We had to stop here at Barrachina's to have one of their amazing pina coladas!

sailing away from OSJ

Jennifer

 

[jenny_nichole]

I'll share what I have planned for our trip so far:

Fly into SJU on Friday.
Fri, 1/8: rent car, stay at ESJ Towers(good rate, on beach, free parking, free breakfast), beach in afternoon, do evening Biobay tour.
Sat, 1/9: stay ESJ Towers, rainforest in morning, beach afternoon, dinner in Old San Juan
Sun, 1/10: embarkation
Mon, 1/11: sea
Tues, 1/12: Barbados: snorkel with sea turtles
Wed, 1/13: Grenada: snorkel underwater sculpture park, Pirate night*I think*
Thurs, 1/14: Martinique: not sure what to do here...having a hard time researching since I can't read French
Fri, 1/15: Antigua: Valley Church Beach
Sat, 1/16: St. Kitts: South Friar's Beach or Marriott Day Pass
Sun, 1/17: Debark, stay in SJ one night
Mon, 1/18: fly home

Anyone have tips/must-do's to share? What are your excursion plans? How about hotels in San Juan? I'm having second thoughts on ESJ Towers b/c the trip advisor reviews haven't been good lately...the price was right and I love that it includes free breakfast, free parking, and doesn't charge a huge resort fee like most of the big SJ hotels. I have free cancellation, so I'm going to wait and see if I can score something better.

Jennifer

 

[jenny_nichole]

Just wanted to give this thread a bump...it's been pretty quiet from the Southern cruisers...anyone want to talk details about our upcoming January 2016 Southern Caribbean cruises?

I also wanted to share that I found a great rate for Condado Plaza Hilton on hotels.com for two nights pre-cruise and one night post cruise. ($159/nt+tax &resort fee=$208/nt) I also found out that they have an Avis rental car on-site, so we are leaning towards just renting a car for 1 day to visit the rain forest & do a biobay tour. (Originally we planned to do a 2 day rental from the airport, but we'd need to pay for parking at the hotel, plus cab to take us from airport to cruise pier on 1/10. In the long run, I think that using cabs + 1 day rental from Avis @ Condado Hilton will be cheaper & easier.)

So what are ya'll planning to do pre/post-cruise in San Juan? How about excursions?

Jennifer

 

[SleepyDeb]

I have a question. My TA says that we wont be leaving San Juan until about 9:30. I see fron a trip report that the muster drill is around 4 and that all aboard is 9:30. I would think we all should be on board for the drill. Do you have to be on boat for drill,but then can leave again? Confused.

 

[jenny_nichole]

I have a question. My TA says that we wont be leaving San Juan until about 9:30. I see fron a trip report that the muster drill is around 4 and that all aboard is 9:30. I would think we all should be on board for the drill. Do you have to be on boat for drill,but then can leave again? Confused.

I believe that you are correct: we are to attend the muster drill, but can head off the ship and explore San Juan before the 9:30pm sail away. Based on prior Southern trip reports, it sounds like this was the case and they also had a later "make-up" drill for those who were delayed due to travel.

I don't think that we'll plan on leaving after we board b/c we aren't docking at the same downtown Old San Juan pier where the Fantasy docks...it would require a cab ride to/from the historic area of Old San Juan.

 

[SleepyDeb]

Any theories as to when the port excursions for Martinique will be announced? Very curious as to what the choices will be.

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

This is a great idea! We were on the Oct. 10th cruise also and loved it....I found lots of info on disboards that helped with our last minute planning

 

[Cdaub]

So happy to see this post! We are on th Jan 17th cruise and are just starting to look into what to do in port.

 

[Cdaub]

Does anyone know if Palo Brunch will only be available on the one sea day?

 

[LocustPoint]

Does anyone know if Palo Brunch will only be available on the one sea day?

It was offered on the one sea day last year.

 

[QuiltTeddy]

Does anyone know if Palo Brunch will only be available on the one sea day?

We took the first Southern cruise out of SJU last year. There was a second Palo Brunch day -- St. Kitts day because we didn't dock until almost noon that day.

 

[yhaff1]

Hi All,

We are sailing on the January 10, 2016 Southern Caribbean on Wonder. I was *wondering* if my fellow southern Caribbean cruisers would like to use this thread to unite & discuss all things about our upcoming January 2016 cruises...

Here are the sailing dates for the upcoming 2016 Southern Caribbean cruises:
1/10, 1/17, 1/24, 1/31

I have found a wealth of information on disneycruiselineblog.

Here's a link to an awesome map that Scott Sanders created for our itinerary:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/cruise-planning/itineraries/itinerary-summary/?itinerary=230

You can also read his daily trip logs from his October 2014 Southern Caribbean cruise:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/2014/10/trip-log-day-1-disney-magic-san-juan-embarkation/

Navigators for the 2014 Southern Itinerary can be found here:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...aribbean-halloween-cruise-october-11-17-2014/
note: differences are 2016 is on the Wonder(not Magic), port of St. Lucia is now Martinique, and order of visiting ports is changed...but these navigators are still helpful in planning

So what are you planning for your 2016 Southern Caribbean cruise?
Do you have plans in San Juan pre or post cruise?
What are you planning to do in each of the ports?

Also, former Southern Caribbean cruisers: please share all of your tips! We'd love to learn from your experiences!

I'll post some of my plans below.

I can't wait to hear what ya'll are planning! DCL app says our 1/10/2016 cruise is 309 days away!

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,
We are taking the same cruise on 1/24.
Super Excited!
We got to cruise the 7 day Western Fantasy last July.
Thanks for all of the helpful links.
Yvonne

 

[mrslmiller]

Hi! My family is cruising the wonder on 1/24 is there a FE group set up yet? It is one of my daughter favorite things to do on sea days

 

[braysmommy]

Thanks for all the info! We are on the 1/10 cruise too and will be getting in early on the 9th. We will hang out at hotel pool and go to OSJ for dinner. Think we will check out the fort before boarding on Sunday.

 

[avgsuperheroine]

We are on the sailing on the 24th. A little sad that the bio bay may not work out. Incoming weekend it's a full moon--they say it's not good for viewing. Then on the way back we're only there on a Sunday and I can't find places that do tours on sundays. I am going back and forth on how many excursions to do. I want to do the turtle snorkel, the adventure river tubing, and a food tour in San Juan. I'm concerned we may be too tired to do something every day, but if I don't book we may not have the option later.

 

[Jenmark]

Hi! My family is cruising the wonder on 1/24 is there a FE group set up yet? It is one of my daughter favorite things to do on sea days

There is one set up under the Disney cruise meets forum then wonder 2016 Jan 24th

 

[jenny_nichole]

We are on the sailing on the 24th. A little sad that the bio bay may not work out. Incoming weekend it's a full moon--they say it's not good for viewing. Then on the way back we're only there on a Sunday and I can't find places that do tours on sundays. I am going back and forth on how many excursions to do. I want to do the turtle snorkel, the adventure river tubing, and a food tour in San Juan. I'm concerned we may be too tired to do something every day, but if I don't book we may not have the option later.

Bummer about the biobay...that's something that we're really looking forward to.

I understand your concerns about overdoing it with the excursions. We are hoping to keep most of our excursions to half days to avoid overdoing it...plus the kids really want their club/lab time!

What are your plans for Martinique? We may just walk to town to browse in the shops, scope out a fun place to eat a local treat, and use the rest of the day like a sea day.

 

[SleepyDeb]

What are your plans for Martinique? We may just walk to town to browse in the shops, scope out a fun place to eat a local treat, and use the rest of the day like a sea day.

I'm wondering when Martinique excursions might be published. Platinum will be booking their excursions for the first Southern Caribbean in about a month, so I assume it has to be soon. Martinique is the island I'm most interested in an excursion because neither of us speak French well. Just enough to get ourselves in trouble...As I learned when I was on a business trip in Paris. A man came up and started chatting with me. I swear he asked me if I drank coffee. I said "Oui" and then he said "My apartment, it is over there!" Had to duck into a Metro station that was not the one I was headed to to lose him.

We can't decide what we want to do on the other islands until we know what's available on Martinique. Would like to do different things. We love to snorkel, but don't want to do that every day.

Anyway...We're thinking of maybe staying on board in Barbados because we've been there many times. All of the other islands are new to us, so we want to explore. But 5 islands might be exhausting, hence maybe staying on board for Barbados.